Warriors: Echo of Darkness

Chapter 12

I was on the last new member, "Berry do you promise to obey the higher ranks and the rules of this Clan?" 

"Yes," the red she-cat purred. 

I buried my muzzle into her right shoulder then Eve tossed a collar around her neck, "Welcome to LunarClan."

The five new member purred happily and were greeted by our current members. I started a new tradition of asking them what they wanted to be as I went to them. Lang and John wanted to be guards while Berry wanted to be a hunter. Shepherd finally had company when Virgil wanted to be a scout. Skars of course was too young to contribute yet, he was around a moon older then Riki, but they kept each other busy. 

My group was now eleven cats strong, "How's that for a Clan led by a kit," I thought looking at Ranger. Him and Blue were grooming each others fur by the guards den. Basil and Berry immediately hit it off, sharing hunting techniques. John and Shepherd seemed interested in each other as well. "Everything is finally working out."

Ranger padded away from Blue with slitted eyes and looked at me, "Don't move, we're surrounded." 

My eyes widened, "What do you mean?"

"ThunderClan... They came while we were busy with the welcoming," he growled unsheathing his claws. 

"LunarClan gather over here!" I called, "I'm going to teach them to spy on us."

Ranger looked around wearily, "There's lots of them, we could be outnumbered."

Cats started coming towards me confused. 

Eve who was playing with Skars and Riki led them to the rest of the Clan, "What's going on?" she whispered.

"We're surrounded by ThunderClan, take the kits and find a safe place to hide," I whispered. 

Her eyes widened and she looked at the kits, "Can't I help?"

"I'm entrusting you with the kits, that's the most important task. Keep them and yourself safe, promise me," I muttered.

"I will, I promise, we will be in the branches of our den's tree," she whispered and led the kits away. 

I narrowed my eyes at the forest in front of us, my Clan was already in a defensive circle. "Come out we know you're here!" I yowled.

My Clanmates looked at me confused but had bristled fur. Ranger did not move, he kept his eyes locked on the woodland. "I know I can trust him, but where are they?"

There was an eerie silence for several seconds until a bush started to rustle. I flexed my claws and narrowed my eyes, "What is this? We respected your borders yet you come into my territory unannounced and uninvited."

A golden tom with black spots emerged from the bush. He raised his head completely and I was shocked at his massive size. I had to admit, his size even intimidated me, "Could this really be Sandstar?.... Tigerpaw wasn't kidding about him being big."

"Greetings, Nightmare is it? I'm surprised a kit could expand a Clan this big. But you are too young, you know nothing of leadership yet," he meowed.

I let out a low growl, "Then you obviously don't know me, stop making assumptions. Why are you here, unless it's to apologize for your warriors crossing our border I will politely ask you to leave."

"The territory outside of the borders was always were, your Clan was so small and your borders didn't have a clear scent. Don't blame my warriors for the misunderstanding. We don't appreciate you making your territory so close to ours, we implore you to move farther North," Sandstar meowed calmly.